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Monaco 1-1 Spurs - Mauricio's verdict

Posted on 1 October 2015
- 21:34

Mauricio Pochettino couldn’t hide his disappointment after a late goal denied us victory in Monaco, but he was quick to praise the efforts of the players after Thursday evening’s 1-1 draw in Group J of the Europa League.

Erik Lamela tapped home from close range after Dele Alli was denied by goalkeeper Danijel Subasic to open the scoring on 35 minutes.

Monaco enjoyed their best spell after that goal but we looked strong defensively and the home side were largely kept at bay in the second half, while Eric Dier and Harry Kane had chances to extend our lead at the other end.

Monaco’s substitutes combined to level with nine minutes remaining, though, as Nabil Darir’s cross was met by Stephan El Shaarawy from close range to leave Hugo Lloris with no chance.

There was one final opportunity for Monaco to snatch it as Hugo parried away Dirar’s shot and Danny Rose did superbly to slide in and deny Guido Carrillo in front of goal.

“The feeling is that we lost two points,” said Mauricio. “It’s true in the first half we conceded a lot of crosses and some chances and it was 50-50 but we completely dominated the second half.

“We had chances and needed to create more because the game was there for us.

“The second half was under our control, we dominated but then we conceded a goal. In football, this can happen. You need to score and kill the game. We needed to be more clinical.

“I’m disappointed but at the same time, I’m happy with the performance and the effort, that was brilliant.

“We’ve played a lot of tough games in the last few weeks and we need to praise the players because the effort from the squad has been fantastic.